{"id":1950,"date":"2016-02-12T14:13:41","date_gmt":"2016-02-12T14:13:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.findadistributor.com\/news\/?p=1950"},"modified":"2016-02-12T14:15:27","modified_gmt":"2016-02-12T14:15:27","slug":"media-matters-at-modex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.findadistributor.com\/news\/media-matters-at-modex\/","title":{"rendered":"MODEX Media Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

With just over seven weeks until the doors open at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta for MHI<\/a>\u2019s MODEX show, now is the time for exhibitors to start engaging with trade media. This blog advises how to do so effectively before, during and after the event, which takes place 4-7 April, 2016.<\/p>\n

The first thing to do is identify the media that tick key boxes. They should be interested in content about MODEX and the product or service that exhibiting company provides. Moreover, their circulation or audience should include the demographic that makes up a target market of the exhibitor.<\/p>\n

It is also important to match a place in the supply chain with readerships and audiences. Do you sell directly to end users or through a distributor network? Often there are different magazines within the same sector that address the respective audiences. Is your audience interested in engine components or complete lift trucks? One high-end vehicle or a fleet of runarounds?<\/p>\n

Sometimes a publication may shift its focus to expand or change a universe of potential advertisers so it\u2019s important to do research.<\/p>\n

\"Invite<\/a>

Invite journalists to your MODEX booth.<\/p><\/div>\n

Give the media an incentive to write about you. If there is a standout publication that covers your work, maybe offer them an exclusive angle or interview. Perhaps you could give a magazine a scoop on an announcement about a product or service in exchange for distributing copies from your exhibit.<\/p>\n

Boilerplate drivel<\/strong><\/p>\n

As packaging journalist David Pittman says, \u201cToo many exhibitors still hand over a USB and wave you on your merry way, or just dump a pile of press releases in the press office, which are often made up of uninteresting boilerplate drivel and regurgitated stories from the previous 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

I love the \u201cboilerplate drivel\u201d comment\u2014and he\u2019s right. Exhibitors too often feel they\u2019re managing media relations by giving journalists a bunch of papers boasting about the size of their headquarters, a dated product launch or, worse, a complete catalogue. No magazine or newspaper worth reading (and you want to be in the ones being read) will publish such bumpf.<\/p>\n

A journalist might visit 50+ exhibits over the course of a trade show. Don\u2019t pin your chances of coverage on one of those memory sticks or brochures that get buried at the bottom of their bag. Do you really think they\u2019re going to get back to the office and sift through all those folders to find something newsworthy?<\/p>\n

\"MODEX<\/a>

MODEX 2014<\/p><\/div>\n

I wouldn\u2019t advise against placing materials in the press room\u2014journalists will gravitate to the free lunch served there\u2014but make it interesting and only as a supplement to more proactive media engagement. A marketing professional spending weeks producing a binder of photos and self-promotional boilerplate drivel is a wasted resource.<\/p>\n

Be opinionated<\/strong><\/p>\n

Invite media representatives to visit your exhibit and make yourself available to answer questions. Avoid textbook responses to those questions and practice not referring to \u201ccautious optimism\u201d or pointing out the lack of a crystal ball. Actually give them an opinion.<\/p>\n

A journalist won\u2019t want to write about the self-proclaimed leading supplier of conveyors but they will be interested in a coal-face viewpoint on the state of the market and the trends impacting it. This blog isn\u2019t about thought leadership but it is about advising people to be interesting enough to write about.<\/p>\n

Pre-arranged one-to-one interviews, exhibit tours and press conferences co-located in trade show venue meeting rooms are all common ways of engaging the media in your trade show presence. I\u2019m only passionate about the quality of activity offered to the press, not necessarily the way it\u2019s achieved. Every company, audience and relevant media are different. All can be effective if the right personnel are made available and they provide good, current information.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A journalist might visit 50+ exhibits over the course of a trade show.<\/p><\/div>\n

Keep in mind that journalists like exclusive content. I alluded to this earlier but it\u2019s worth reiterating in relation to press gatherings. If you\u2019ve identified 10, 20, however many, major magazines or editorial vehicles, it won\u2019t serve as a quick fix to bundle them all into a one-hour slot of your trade show. You should be prepared for\u2014and welcome\u2014followup enquiries and requests for one-to-one interviews with senior personnel.<\/p>\n

Tell John they\u2019re coming<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whatever the tactics you adopt at the show, cohesion is important between all departments. Prior to a material handling show I covered a while ago, I was hounded for weeks before the event about visiting a company\u2019s exhibit by their PR company. The crux of the correspondence was:<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want an interview with CEO John Smith?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn is expecting you at 12pm on Day Two of the Big Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a followup to check you\u2019re still ok to meet with John Smith next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trouble was, nobody told John Smith. When I called on the exhibit I was, as David has experienced, waved on my way by John, who gave me a CD containing more of that boilerplate drivel and catalogue images. He told me there\u2019s nothing he can tell me that isn\u2019t already on the disc. Imagine a CEO who can\u2019t tell the media more than what is in the pages of their catalogue! They exist. You won\u2019t be surprised to hear that I never made a visit to that company again.<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/a>

Some exhibitors were better than others at engaging with the media during ProMat last year.<\/p><\/div>\n

Media engagement continues after the show too. Send quality press releases about landmark orders, photos from the show floor, in addition to updated forecasts and opinions following experiences at the event.<\/p>\n

Deal with followups and show gratitude to the media who showed an interest in your products and services. Write down who attended one-to-one interviews, exhibit tours and press conferences so you can note who to call upon when launching future outreach campaigns.<\/p>\n

Make your MODEX even bigger with the help of the media.<\/p>\n

Richard Howes, Vice President of Marketing & Content<\/em><\/p>\n

findadistributor.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With just over seven weeks until the doors open at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta for MHI\u2019s MODEX show, now is the time for exhibitors to start engaging with trade media. This blog advises how to do so effectively before, during and after the event, which takes place 4-7 April, 2016. The first… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,16],"tags":[898,51,40,46,238,43],"class_list":["post-1950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-homepage-featured","tag-material-handling-magazines","tag-mhi","tag-modex","tag-promat","tag-trade-media","tag-trade-shows"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMODEX Media Matters - Find A Distributor Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.findadistributor.com\/news\/media-matters-at-modex\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MODEX Media Matters - Find A Distributor Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With just over seven weeks until the doors open at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta for MHI\u2019s MODEX show, now is the time for exhibitors to start engaging with trade media. 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